Voyager 2 took this image of Saturn and its two moons, Rhea and Dione, on July 21, 1981. In this image, Rhea is below and to the left of Saturn, while Dione is directly below the giant planet. 🪐
Rhea looks very small in this image. But it is Saturn's second largest moon. How cold is Rhea? ❓🤔 It is as "warm" as -281°F (-174°C) in sunlit areas, and ranges to -364°F (-220°C) in the shade. 😱
Rhea appeared to astronomers as a small dot until Voyager (1 and 2) encountered it in 1980 and 1981. Voyager images showed that Rhea's features could be divided into two regions. A type II area with craters larger than 25 miles (40 km) and a type II area with craters less than 25 miles (40 km) in the polar and equatorial regions. 😱
Dione is the fourth largest moon of Saturn. Rhea and Dione were both discovered by Giovanni Cassini, and both take their names from Greek mythology. 🔭
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